ISSUE: Inside PFAS Policy

Court Stays South Carolina PFAS Venue Case Pending High Court Action

A federal judge has agreed to stay South Carolina’s pending PFAS contamination suit against 3M to give the state and Maryland time to petition the Supreme Court to review an appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their suits to federal court. “For good cause shown, the motion to stay is granted,” Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina said in an Aug. 15 text entry in the case’s docket. “Plaintiff is...

EPA Asks Court For Fifth Delay In Suit Challenging PFAS CERCLA Rule

The Trump EPA is again asking the D.C. Circuit to delay litigation in a case brought by industry challenging the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, the fifth such request the agency has made as officials say they still need more time to evaluate how to proceed in the litigation. “EPA’s new leadership is currently still in the process of reviewing the issues presented in this case, evaluating the Rule within the broader...

Bipartisan House Bill Seeks Funding For PFAS Wastewater Treatment

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers -- two Republicans and six Democrats -- has introduced a bill that would create a $200 million EPA grant program to help wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) upgrade their facilities to treat or limit the discharge of PFAS or other emerging contaminants and comply with any pretreatment or effluent rules. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force, together with Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) introduced HR 4961 , titled “Public Utility...

Draft MAHA Plan Sidesteps PFAS Advice, Seeks To Ease Pesticide Policy

A draft strategy from the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission appears to sidestep calls for addressing PFAS while proposing to ease EPA policies governing pesticides and farm operations, a move that is sparking criticism from environmentalists who say it marks a turnabout from the panel’s initial report. The draft strategy , required by President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the panel, follows a May MAHA assessment that identified four potential drivers behind an increase in childhood chronic...

State PFAS Patchwork Continues As Industry Seeks To Ease Tough Laws

Several states are successfully defending against industry attempts to weaken existing PFAS regulations, according to an assessment from environmentalists, but others have conceded to industry pressures by passing laws that ease the burden on regulated entities, continuing the trend of a state patchwork of PFAS laws that industry has long criticized. “There are [] strong concerns about differing states taking varied approaches in developing policy,” a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council (ACC) told Inside PFAS Policy in an...

MAHA Backers Warn Of Fallout For GOP Over PFAS Biosolids Measure

Supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement are pressing President Donald Trump to oppose a measure included in FY26 House spending legislation that would bar EPA from acting on a Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids. In an Aug. 11 letter to the president, as well as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, they warn of potential political repercussions for Republicans in the...

Texas Cities Urge Immunity From PFAS Tort Claims For Biosolids Companies

Public operators of wastewater treatment facilities in Texas are supporting legal arguments to provide immunity to biosolids companies from tort claims for any harm caused by PFAS-containing biosolids applied to farmland, backing the concept that such entities should be afforded “derivative immunity” and be considered “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination. The operators made the arguments in a July 15 amicus brief filed by Texas cities and a water reclamation district in Alessi, et al. v. Synagro Technologies Inc., et...

Environmentalists Press MAHA Panel To Stem Range Of PFAS Exposures

Environmentalists are petitioning the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission to take action to restrict PFAS exposure from biosolid applications, fluorination in plastic containers and pesticides use, contending the administration’s talk about addressing PFAS does not match its actions to date. The purpose of the petition -- sent Aug. 13 to MAHA Commission Chair and Health & Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. -- is to point out the hypocrisy of administration officials on the per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Environmentalists Urge EPA To Finalize PFAS Biosolids Report As Drafted

As EPA prepares to close a lengthy comment period on its draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids, environmentalists are pressing the agency to finalize the document and quickly begin work to regulate the chemicals, though industry groups have said the assessment overstated the potential risks. In a recent comment letter, the Waterkeeper Alliance (WKA) raised concerns about the significant environmental and health risks posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids and cautioned against efforts to...

Chemours Appeals Order Requiring Immediate PFAS Discharge Reductions

PFAS manufacturer Chemours is appealing a federal court’s order requiring the company to immediately reduce its discharges of a next-generation PFAS to comply with its wastewater discharge permit, after the judge reinforced the court’s authority to grant preliminary injunctive relief to citizens seeking to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Aug. 12 docketed Chemours’ petition seeking review of Judge Joseph Goodwin’s Aug. 7 order in West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) v....

Court Dismisses Cookware Group’s Challenge To Minnesota PFAS Bans

A federal district court judge has dismissed a challenge to Minnesota’s landmark PFAS product prohibitions law brought by cookware manufacturers, finding the plaintiff failed to make its case under the Dormant Commerce Clause in a case that tested whether state product regulations could survive such legal action. In an Aug. 11 opinion and order , Senior Judge John R. Tunheim of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted a motion from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner...

Judge Orders Chemours To Curb PFAS Releases In Line With CWA Permit

A federal judge is ordering PFAS manufacturer Chemours to immediately restrict its discharges of a GenX chemical at its Washington Works plant into the Ohio River -- even if that means curbing production -- with the court agreeing with environmentalists that the company’s violations of its Clean Water Act (CWA) permit are causing irreparable harm. In an Aug. 7 order , Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted environmentalists’ request for...

DOD Delays AFFF Ban By One More Year, Citing Replacement Hurdles

The Department of Defense (DOD) has formally extended its deadline to end the use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which contains PFAS, by one year to Oct. 1, 2026, utilizing the second of two year-long extensions and arguing it needs more time to successfully transition to PFAS-free alternatives. “I have determined that the second waiver of the prohibition with a statutory deadline of October 1, 2026 is necessary to sustain the operational availability of sufficient firefighting systems to ensure the...

States Ready Supreme Court Petition To Review PFAS Venue Decision

South Carolina and Maryland are planning to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, opening the door to a legal reckoning over whether defendants will be able to keep such suits in federal court where they can raise the government contractor defense. As such, if Maryland and South Carolina succeed, it could allow several other states to keep their similar claims against 3M and other...

Gillibrand Reintroduces Bill Requiring DOD To Monitor PFAS In Stormwater

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has reintroduced legislation that would require military facilities to monitor PFAS discharges in stormwater runoff and implement best management practices (BMP) to reduce such discharges, mandating that at least 1 percent of funds allocated for Defense Department (DOD) PFAS remediation be used toward these actions. “Access to clean, safe water is a human right,” Gillibrand said in a July 28 press release . “This legislation will not only protect service members, firefighters, and communities from toxic...

Bolstering Cookware Sector, FDA Backs Fluoropolymers In Medical Devices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is defending the use of certain fluoropolymers, a subset of PFAS, in medical devices, a move that appears to bolster long-running industry efforts to exempt cookware and possibly other products manufactured with the chemicals from state product prohibitions. “The PFAS used in medical devices are not the same as those identified as being potentially harmful to people in other contexts,” FDA says in an Aug. 6 update on its website. “The FDA’s evaluation is...

D.C. Circuit Sets Sept. 10 Deadline To File Motions In PFAS SDWA Case

The D.C. Circuit is requiring EPA and other parties in litigation challenging the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits to file motions to govern future proceedings by Sept. 10, actions that will likely clarify how the Trump EPA will proceed with its proposed changes to the landmark PFAS regulation. According to an Aug. 7 order in the consolidated American Water Works Association, et al. v. EPA , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit orders “that the parties file...

PFAS Receivers Press EPA To Issue Biosolids Guide, Revise Assessment

A group representing PFAS receivers, such as wastewater utilities and landfills, is urging EPA to issue interim guidance on the land application of biosolids to combat the uncertainty it says the agency’s draft risk assessment for two PFAS in biosolids has caused, arguing it would also give EPA more time to appropriately revise the risk assessment. “The absence of any risk management analysis contextualizing the Draft Risk Assessment -- which EPA has historically completed at the same time as its...

States Wrestle With Uncertainty As Trump EPA Reworks SDWA PFAS Rule

The Trump EPA’s efforts to rescind and alter aspects of the Biden-era PFAS drinking water rule is leaving states in a tough spot, disrupting their efforts to implement the rule’s looming monitoring deadlines as well as some states’ efforts to seek primacy to implement the regulation. The “top line to me gets down to regulatory uncertainty,” one state source says. At issue are the Trump EPA’s plans to pare back aspects of the 2024 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule...

Residents File RCRA Suit Against Agriculture Giant Over PFAS Releases

Maryland residents have filed suit against agriculture giant Perdue AgriBusiness under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) over alleged PFAS contamination stemming from various activities at a local industrial complex, piggybacking on a separate class action suit brought last year over the same plant’s releases. “On behalf of two local residents, we have filed a lawsuit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), alleging that Perdue AgriBusiness continues to unlawfully dispose of PFAS-laced waste from its Salisbury facility,”...

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